Sonia to govt: Strictly implement forest act
National Advisory Council chairperson Sonia Gandhi will ask the government to strictly implement the Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act, 2006.
The NAC will also set up a working group to look into the land acquisition and relief and rehabilitation issues, which adversely affect the tribals. It would also converge Mgnrega with better natural resource management.
Concerned over the maternal deaths in Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, the NAC will also seek an explanation from the Union health ministry. As many as 13 pregnant women died in Jodhpur in the last 10 days after they were given infected intravenous (IV) fluids at a government hospital. similar cases were reported from Barwani MP in December 2010.
The NAC wants the tribal welfare ministry to exercises its powers under Section 12 of the act and ask the states to plug the loopholes in its implementation.
Noting that the act was a landmark legislation aimed to undo the historical injustice done to tribals and other forest dwellers by non-recognition of their forest rights, the NAC said the law has not yet succeeded fully in achieving its objectives, because of some difficulties in implementation.
This has resulted in the majority of claims by forest dwellers in many states being rejected with the rejection rates in some states higher than 60 per cent, it said. The failure to recognise community rights, especially to minor forest produce, have been even more widespread.
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